I started running in earnest at the end of May and, by mid-July, I was logging 25 miles per week. That’s a far cry from an elite runner’s weekly mileage, I know, however…

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As I mentioned last month, I’ll be writing more articles for Tahoe Trail Guide and then linking them here (in lieu of writing a separate essay for this site). I’m just trying to consolidate my time and effort between the social media platforms that I operate. I sincerely hope that you’ll keep reading despite having to visit the other website 🙂

A catastrophic break!

The end of an era.

On October 16, 2025, I was preparing to leave the house when my Nikon D500 fell off of my bed and broke. This has been the workhorse DSLR camera that I’ve used to capture some great shots ever since buying it back in 2020. I consider it my first “real” camera, at least compared to all of the lower end models that I’ve owned over the years. This one featured a great autofocus system (that quickly acquired targets), high burst rates (that captured birds-in-flight shots), and was very customizable (with programmable buttons).

Although I purchased it well after it had been introduced onto the market, the D500 and the accompanying Nikkor 200-500mm lens was an ideal option for people who were new to wildlife photography (but unwilling to spend a ton of money). So it was a really great camera for me over the years. And, I would argue that it’s one of the main contributing factors to my accelerated learning with regard to bird identification. For example, without all of the photos that I was able to capture with it (even the not-so-perfect ones), I would’ve missed out on a lot of stuff over the years.

Looking at the attached photo, you’ll see that the lens mount (silver/metal ring) of the camera body ripped completely out. In that photo, attached to the lens mount is my teleconverter which I was eventually able to safely remove. I’m going to send the camera body back to Nikon to see if they can repair it. However, I suspect that the cost of the repair (if they can do it at all) will outweigh the cost of the camera at this point. So I’ve just been treating it as a lost cause. And, unfortunately, it came to an inglorious end in that it didn’t break while I was out on some exciting excursion on a mountain or whatever. Rather, it just got caught up on a bag that I was grabbing from my bed and fell to the floor 🙁

In the meantime, I bought the mirrorless Nikon Z8 which I’ve been eyeballing for the past year or two. Perhaps this was the excuse I needed to finally pull the trigger and upgrade in a big way. The Z8 is light years ahead of the D500 and, although I’ve only been using it for a few weeks at this point, I absolutely love it. So I’m very excited about the future of my wildlife photography 🙂

I had taken a few photos with the D500 later in the evening of October 15th. However, I consider the snowy photo session that I did earlier that day (see the White-crowned Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow below) to be the last real photo shoot with it. In this photo album, I photographed the birds dated October 24th and later with the Z8.

Most of my skills and photo reflexes transfer over to the new camera. However, the camera is a tool like any other that I need to study and learn in order to become more proficient in its use. But so far so good!

Lastly, I do buy various gear for my little outdoor-related operation with personal savings. However, I’ve been able to offset much of my business-related purchases and expenses thanks to the generous contributions that people have made/continue to make. So, thank you for all of your support over the years! It means a lot to me to be able to keep writing, filming, photographing, and painting without having to constantly worry about how I’m going to pay for the supplies, tools, and services necessary to produce my work 🙂